ARMED FORCES: Brazen Prejudice

The Navy's gallantry and efficiency put
it close to the U.S. public's heart. It would be closer except for
another Navy quality: brassbound rigidity.

A sample is the case of Captain Hyman George Rickover, an Annapolis
graduate (1922) and an electrical engineer. Six years ago Rickover
sparked planning for an atomic submarine. Last June, when Harry Truman
laid the keel of the first atomic-powered submarine, Rickover was
publicly praised as the man chiefly responsible for its existence.
Later, Navy Secretary Dan Kimball pinned the Legion of Merit on
Rickover, said he had...